LG to unveil hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD player

It looks as if LG Electronics may be the first manufacturer to make next-gen format fans quite happy with news it has a hybrid player in the works. The company has confirmed it will be using the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, which runs January 8-11 in Las Vegas, to unveil its first hybrid player. This will allow consumers to have a single box under their HDTV that plays both Sony's Blu-ray discs and Toshiba's HD DVD discs.

No firm release date is stated other than LG saying it will be available in early 2007 for the U.S. market. LG wants “this technological breakthrough to end the confusion and inconvenience of competing high-definition disc formats for both content producers and consumers.”

MATTHEW'S OPINION
It didn't take an electronics manufacturer long to realize the way to sell players is to give us one that takes away the main problem all consumers wanting hi-def films have: Do I back HD DVD or Blu-ray?

Both the Sony and Toshiba camps aren't going to back down in the format wars, and–at the same time–both camps need to sell discs (and players). They can't do anything but watch other companies start to produce hybrids in the knowledge that doing so themselves would probably be seen as conceding that neither format will win out.

It will be interesting to see what price this LG drive is released at. I'm sure it will be higher than the current non-hybrid next-gen drives, but that is bound to fall in time. More importantly, other manufacturers should now follow, which again will create competition and hopefully reduce prices.

=)(10:15am EST Fri Jan 05 2007)This is such good news that it's almost an argument for a benevolent god! – by Dustin

Hmmm….?(11:00am EST Fri Jan 05 2007)Those hybrid discs seem a fair while from taking off, since they require one or more major content producers to re-tool again, even after investing in Hd-DVD and/or BluRay production capacity.

Not sure on the dual format drive either.

I do have a question though, I wonder what the comparative sales are right now in terms of the number of HD-DVD playback devices sold compared to BluRay devices. Since Sony claims it will have done one million PS3s by Christmas and I haven't seen anything like that number touted for HD-DVD or BluRay dedicated players I have to assume that as PS3 sells, even if it lags behind both 360 and Wii, the number of BluRay players will far outstrip HD-DVD in the short-medium term.

It's at this point when you have to ask whether HD-DVD might (as the INQ so colorfully put it recently) do a betamax? – by highlandcynic

HD Content is already available for download from a number of services and companies. Hard media will go the way of the dinosaur and dodo in less than a decade.

As far as assumptions to the numbers of PS3's and HDDVD add-ons to the 360, it's not even worth venturing a guess at this point.

HC: what aren't you sure about? Confused.

The tech is available, and the companies (LG, NEC, Time Warner) are just trying to stradle the fence to turn an overall profit. It shouldn't take any more time than it did to initially “get the ball rolling” for either HD or BR.

HD DVD has no greater chance of “doing a betamax” than BR. Too early to tell, and again….

HARD MEDIA IS DOOMED…. DOOOOOOOOMED! – by The_Real_Mark

re: None of this matters, anyway(1:48pm EST Fri Jan 05 2007)DVD was released about ten years ago and in that time has become (and still is) one of the most succesful formats of all time. Saying that hard media will disappear in ten years is meaningless because:

a) Even if you are correct ten years is still plenty of time for HD disks to make an impact and for manufacturers to recoup their investments in equipment.

and b) Making predictions about technology trends 10 years out is a fools game, it is difficult enough predicting what will happen next year let alone a decade from now. Perhaps people will begin simply downloading HD movies, but perhaps a new format will emerge that takes up 10x the space and is only economically feasible to distribute on disks. There is no way to be sure at this point. – by elbarto79

re: no way to be sure (9:58am EST Sat Jan 06 2007)The writing is on the wall. Hitachi has announced a TB Hard Drive will be available by the end of March. Go ahead and invest in all the hard media you can, elbarto, it's sure to be a rarity soon.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about a world with no hard media. I really enjoy opening a DVD case and looking through the art and director's notes and all that stuff. But how many people on this very site actually bother leaving their computer chair to find the shows and movies they want? Most self-proclaimed “geeks” torrent the media they desire. Comcast, XBLive, iTV, HD tivo, Vongo, and even the studios, themselves, are offering downloadable HD content. But, overall, this is a good thing. If you enjoy dealing with other idiots at the video store, scratched discs, limited space on your shelves, and competing formats, then by all means, keep your head in the sand, and buy a bunch of DVD's! – by The_Real_Mark

No hard media?(7:17pm EST Sun Jan 07 2007)Can you say backup? I don't want to purchase downloadable content and wait for the hdgod (hard drive god of destruction) to turn the content into pixie dust. Hard media will be around as long as there are realist who know “failure is not a option, its a guarantee”. – by Quinqube